Racing

Far out, this sure is an intense race period, for both myself and the athletes.

On a personal level I have a bunch of paddle races going on at the moment. There is an event going on in Perth at the moment called WA Race Week. Basically this is a series of paddle events that go all week. On top of that, there are actually more events next week. All up it means 6 races in about two weeks for me. Phew.

Obviously not all those races can be A races, it would wear you out too much to even try. For me the race last night, and another one on Saturday the 31st will be the key ones. All the other events are glorified training sessions and that is how I am approaching them.

The race last night was pretty good. I came 6th by about 6 seconds. It would have been nice to come 5th and there were a few mistakes and pieces of bad luck that means things could have easily gone the other way. but I learned long ago to not obsess too much about that. What is past is past and the day unfolded the way it did. To become too fixated on bad luck and mistakes is a fast way to become pretty miserable. Besides the 6 seconds though I had a pretty good race, not too many other things I would have done differently, so you have to be happy with that.

The next 'race' is tomorrow, which is a 27km crossing from Rottnest Island to the mainland. This is less of a race and more of an adventure. Safely getting from the start line to the finish line will be the key task of the day, and with any luck I might have a bit of fun too. Fingers crossed.

On the athlete side of things, obviously Busso is just over a week away now and so things are getting into serious mode for most of the athletes. I have one athlete doing his first Ironman and then a number doing the 70.3. Serious stuff.

My advice for all these athletes has been the same, while race time is soon, keep focused on what you are doing today, and tomorrow and the day after etc. I always used to find in race week that I was entirely focused on race day and I found it hard to concentrate and get motivated for the training I was doing that day. While race week training sessions won't build any fitness, they are still important sessions for getting you moving, keeping the mind focused, the body fresh etc. I tell my athletes to take a moment to think about each session in race week, remember why you are doing it, what it is for and then get on with it. Put the race out your mind during the session and be in the moment. Plenty of time to be thinking about the race outside of training.

Besides that, I have been having plenty of conversations about race day, all those last minute questions about how race day works, what to expect, race plans, contingency plans etc. Preparation, preparation, preparation is my motto. Be prepared and don't create problems for yourself. the goal for the days leading up to race day should be stress minimization. No surprises.

Speaking of preparation, the inevitable weather checking has already begun by the racers. Currently it isn't looking great for the 1st of December, which of course raises more questions. My response to my athletes when they ask about weather is always the same. First up, nine days out is way to early to be thinking about weather. Secondly, I am happy for athletes to look at the weather on two conditions:

• they are using it to help them prepare their nutrition plans and race plan; and
• they aren't going to let it panic them. 

If they can do those things then I am happy to chat about weather.

Yep, it sure is all go around here.

Attitude

It can be amazing how much different attitude can make to how you feel and how you perceive experiences.

I was really grumpy earlier this week. I mean really in a foul mood. Haven't been that annoyed for a while. The source of my annoyance was this.

I have a race on this weekend which is the first of a Championship series. The series is made up of three races, he/she who gets the most points wins. Pretty standard stuff. However, on Wednesday I got news that the race that was supposed to be happening on Saturday was going to instead be combined with another race and done on Sunday. This decision was made to chase better weather conditions, as the conditions on Sunday look a lot better than Saturday.

This decision is actually pretty logical as it seeks to get the best conditions for those competing. However, for me it doesn't work as I can't race on Sunday. I have an absolutely, non negotiable family event on Sunday and so that is me out. This decision is what got me so annoyed. To be honest, I was a little baffled by the severity of my annoyance, it really ruined my day, I just couldn't shake it. I was surprised by how much the decision annoyed me. When I think about it objectively, I think my annoyance stems partly from tiredness, but also partly from the helplessness of the situation. I had done everything right, entered the right event, kept the day free etc and then through no fault of my own the chance to earn series points had been taken away from me. I think that is what got my blood boiling, the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. I am completely able to accept that the decision was the better one for the majority of the competitors, but it wasn't better for me and I couldn't help but get angry about that on a personal level. Still a bit annoyed about it if I am honest.

Following on from my annoying Wednesday I had some training sessions yesterday and I still didn't really enjoy them. I came out annoyed, grumpy and looking for negatives, not really willing to concede that there had been many good bits to the session. The sessions themselves also hadn't been  great quality because mentally I hadn't really been willing to push myself. I was down and annoyed and so when the going got tough, I eased off..

I contrast the training yesterday with the session I just had and the difference couldn't be greater. This afternoon I am feeling a bit happier about the world, I have had some sleep, got some distance and perspective from Wednesday and am generally feeling better. As a result I found the session this afternoon a load of fun. Arguably the conditions were worse today and there were a lot of reasons why today's session should have been less fun than yesterday, but in fact I found it quite the opposite. When it comes down to it, the only real difference between the sessions is attitude. Wednesday and Thursday I wanted to be annoyed and find the worst in things and today I was willing to go out and find some positives.

They say that life is what you make it. It can be good to get a reminder of that from time to time.

Question Time

Here we go, three weeks today, the count down is on for Busso.

Been having a lot of "race prep" type conversations with athletes this week.

"Where do I get my wetsuit fixed?"
"How do bike aid stations work?"
"Why do I feel so tired?"
"What spares should I carry?"
"How do day bags work?"
"How early should I arrive in transition on race morning?"

The list of questions goes on.

And I love them.

I like these questions for a couple of reasons. Firstly, giving this sort of advice and information is one of the things I like most about coaching. I love having these chats. The "how does this work" sort of thing. I like to talk. A lot. And these kinds of topics are the sort of thing I like talking about. Set me off talking about a topic I enjoy. Heaven.

More importantly though, I want my athletes to be prepared. For me, the best kind of race day is a boring one, where the athlete is ready for anything that happens. They have asked all the questions, they know everything they need and all they need to do is go and execute. Race day shouldn't hold any surprises.

I try and prepare my athletes well in advance of race day in terms of pacing, nutrition, gear selection, all the usual things. These aren't the sorts of details you want to be figuring out 3 weeks out. However, a race is made up of 1000s of small details and you never quite know what one athlete to another doesn't know. I find that the best way to find these things out is to simply talk about them. You quickly get a feel for each athlete's level of experience and what details they might be lacking.

These chats, and the questions that follow, can be a great way to uncover those little nuggets that make a good day into a great day. In the end preparation makes perfect.